January, 2009
Foreign Exchange - UK Daily Update - Friday, January 30, 2009 10:10 - 0 Comments
World First’s Morning Update - 30th January - Risk Appetite Evaporates
George Bernard Shaw once famously commented that “England and America are two countries separated by a common language”. Jokes aside, this is pretty accurate of the economic situation faced by these two countries recently.
Equity markets fell across the board due to profit taking from banking stocks and a raft of grim data from the US causing risk appetite to evaporate yesterday. US jobless rolls jumped to a record peak of 588,000 for the week prior, while new orders for durable goods fell for a fifth straight month. New home sales plunged 14.7% to a record low also, well below analysts’ expectations. This increase in risk aversion caused dollar and Yen to strengthen throughout the day as expected.
The Euro was hit hard after consumer and industrial confidence figures from the zone pointed to further weakness in the future. Comments from Jean Claude Trichet that interest rates could fall below 2% and that quantitative easing may be used in the future also provided downward pressure for the single currency
The New Zealand Dollar fell to six year lows, the result was further fallout from RBNZ governors decision to slash rates 150 points on Thursday night. Trade deficit figures also highlighted weakness and a deterioration in fiscal figures added to the woes. We expect further weakness over the short and medium term for the kiwi.
Data out today from the US shows GDP figures, expected to show the US has contracted at an annualised rate of 5.4%. . We also have Chicago PMI and Michigan consumer sentiment readings.
We also have inflation data from the Euro Zone, a result that is worse than expected may see Euros weaken further as this will raise the risk of deflation in the future
All this and more is available on the World First Video Blog, check it out at http://uk.youtube.com/user/WorldFirstJC
|
Indicative Rates |
||
|
|
Sell |
Buy |
|
GBPEUR |
1.1102 |
1.1133 |
|
GBPUSD |
1.4271 |
1.4301 |
|
EURUSD |
1.2838 |
1.2876 |
|
GBPJPY |
127.51 |
127.87 |
|
GBPAUD |
2.2178 |
2.2236 |
|
GBPNZD |
2.7897 |
2.7926 |
|
GBPCAD |
1.7596 |
1.7624 |
|
NZDUSD |
0.5103 |
0.5146 |
|
GBPZAR |
14.12 |
14.65 |
|
USDZAR |
10.04 |
10.16 |
|
GBPPLN |
4.9244 |
4.9439 |
|
EURJPY |
114.41 |
115.23 |
|
Rates are dependent on amount transacted |
||
Please feel free to contact me (rick.roache@worldfirst.com) if you have any questions or thoughts regarding these updates or if you are interested in a particular event in the calendar. If you would like to discuss your foreign exchange requirements, please contact our: Corporate Foreign Exchange Team on 020 7801 9050 or our Private Client Currency Exchange Team on 020 7801 9080. Disclaimer: The above comments are only our views and should not be construed as advice. You should act using your own information and judgement. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions and estimates constitute the author’s own judgement as of the date of the briefing and are subject to change without notice. Any rates given are “interbank” i.e. for amounts of £5million and thus are not indicative of rates offered by World First for smaller amounts. E&OE. Definitions of jargon/market terms can be found in our Glossary of Foreign Exchange Terms.
To view any past or present currency blogs please click on the following link www.worldfirst.com/blog
- US Bailout Helps Risk Appetite - World First’s Morning Update - 29th January 2009
- Sterling Holds Gains For Now - World First’s Morning Update - 28th January 2009
- Barclays Gives Sterling A Leg Up - World First’s Morning Update - 27th January 2009
- Further Pain For Sterling - World First’s Morning Update - 26th January 2009
- World First’s Sterling Update - 26th January - Year of the Ox
- World First in the press - City AM Monday 26 January 2009
- Sterling Consolidates At Levels - World First’s Morning Update - 23rd January 2009
- Bank Shares Keep Sterling Under Pressure - World First’s Morning Update - 22nd January 2009
- Sterling Moves To 7 Year Lows Against Dollar - World First’s Morning Update - 20th January 2009
- World First NZD/AUD Weekly Update - 19th January
- Treasury To Unveil Phase 2 - World First’s Morning Update - 19th December 2009
- Banking Crisis II? - World First’s Morning Update - 16th January 2009
- Euro Weak As We Wait For ECB - World First’s Morning Update - 15th January 2009
- Sterling Slips As Trade Balance Widens - World First’s Morning Update - 14th January 2009
- Profit Takers Take Pound Lower - World First’s Morning Update - 13th January 09
- World First NZD/AUD Weekly Update - 12th January
- World First’s Sterling Update - 12th January 2009 - Method in the Madness
- Risk Jumps On Poor US Jobs Data - World First’s Morning Updates - 12th January 2009
- Sterling Holds After BOE Cut - World First’s Morning Update - 9th January 2009
- Sterling Slackens Overnight - World First’s Morning Update - 8th January 2008
- Sterling Continues the New Year Cheer - World First’s Morning Update - 7th December 2009
- Euro’s Advance Is Frozen - World First’s Morning Update - 6th January 2009
- Risk Helps GBP Higher Against EUR - World First’s Morning Update - 5th January 2008
- Can The New Year Start With A Bang? - World First’s Morning Update - 2nd January 2009
